It’s nice to see that even in these tough economic times even the upper-crust playboys are having to scale back their activities.

According to a new survey by Prince & Assoc., more than 80% of multimillionaires who had extra-marital lovers planned to cut back on their gifts and allowances. Still, only 12% of the multimillionaire cheaters said they plan to give up on their lovers altogether for financial reasons.

Women were far more generous to their paramours in the face of financial crises. Less than 20% planned to lower allowances, gifts and perks, while more than half planned to raise them.

The survey doesn’t mean to suggest that all, most or even a large minority of rich men and women have affairs. It simply is a snapshot of a certain sample at a certain time. Yet it suggests that in a time of financial crisis, it is better to be a kept man than a compensated woman.

So what sorts of cultural ramifications exist as texting becomes even more widespread? Professional Linguist, David Crystal, argues (as most linguist tend to do) that naturally occurring changes in a language are not so bad.

It is good to know that the estimated three billion human beings who own cell phones, and who use them to send more than a trillion text messages every year, are having no effect on anything that we should care about. A trillion text messages, Crystal says, “appear as no more than a few ripples on the surface of the sea of language.

In some respects, texting is a giant leap backward in the science of communication. Sending a text message with a numeric keypad feels primitive and improvisational—like the way prisoners speak to each other by tapping on the walls of their cells in “Darkness at Noon,” or the way the guy in “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” writes a book. And, as Crystal points out, although cell phones keep getting smaller, thumbs do not.

Lebanon is planing an international lawsuit against Israel citing violations in food copyright law.

The Lebanese claim is that Israel markets original Lebanese food like tabouleh, kubbeh, hummus, falafel and fattoush which the Lebanese considered their trademarks prior to the establishment of the Jewish state.

Abboud, who prepared a memo on the subject, based his case on the, ”feta cheese precedent” that occurred six years ago. At that time, France, Denmark and Germany asserted that Greece cannot have a monopoly over the production of this type of cheese. Greece managed to prove in international institutions that it is the cheese’s “originator” and won the case.

He stays in business repairing laser printers. And insist that typewriters have gained popular appeal among youth. Read the article here.

While Schweitzer carried on, he noticed that most of the offices that he serviced were purchasing Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) laser printers along with their computers. Recognizing that those printers would break down and need repairs, Schweitzer took Hewlett-Packard-sponsored training courses to learn how to fix the machines and added that to the firm’s service menu. Before long, he included fax machine repairs as well.

As boys, Chris Strompolos, Eric Zala and Jayson Lamb spent every summer from 1982 – 1989 (that’s eight summers, folks!) crafting their shot-for-shot recreation of the film they’d later entitle “Raiders: The Adaptation”. Amazingly they did actually finish the film.

Writer-director Mathieu Kassovitz’s,La Haine (1995), highlights the marginalization within France’s banlieues. Hands-down one of my favorite films ( also a Cannes Film Festival winner), if not a cinematography masterpiece.

…butts European urbanity up against American street style as kids clash with cops in suburban Paris.